As I said earlier, Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments expands the spotlight to allow some of the side characters to shine. Gran and Izwi added to the first book by being motivation for Ropa; here, they get fleshed out more and feel more three-dimensional to me. Gran, especially, has a larger role to play in the series overall. I imagine that we’ll get books exploring her backstory in future installments, and I’m looking forward to them. She, and her magic, seem poised between the official Scottish magic and the wild magic of the Travelers. Since her magic seems to have African roots, it won’t surprise me at all to find out her magic is both older and more in touch with the natural world than Scottish magic. But right now, Gran doesn’t want to expose Ropa to that magic. Is it because of what happened to Ropa’s parents?

Izwi gets more of a personality in this book. In the first installment, the most I remember about her is that she played games on Ropa’s phone. Well, here, we learn about her temper and how she reacts to Ropa constantly running off without her. At this point, I can’t see a role for Izwi in the larger story, but there’s definitely possibility for her to move from background to foreground character.

Sir Ian Callander is a proper Scottish man from the upper crust’s upper crust. Despite all the prejudices built into those ranks, Callander sees something in Ropa. He genuinely cares for her, but it comes across in the paternalistic way of the upper class. He provides her opportunities, instruction, and shelters her from certain office politics. But when she’s scrambling for money, she’s on her own. It’s not clear what role Callander sees for her, but he does see her potential. And he does take his role as mentor seriously. With the hints at a larger backstory between him and Ropa’s gran, Callander is man whose past readers need to know.

While the above characters provide for intrigue and questions, the heart of the novel comes from Ropa’s relationship with her friends Priyanka Kapoor and Jomo Maige. These relationships played a small role in The Library of the Dead, but they come to the foreground in a large way. I loved it when these characters got together. Their friendship felt earned, not just a plot device. I can imagine them hanging out between books. Readers see a bit more about both Priyanka and Jomo’s skills in this book. It’s a good reminder that they’re farther along in their studies than Ropa. How this trio evolves will be an interesting part of future books.